Idea of the Big Eurasian Partnership was formulated in December 2015 by the President of Russia V.V. Putin, who launched an initiative to begin consultations on forming an economic partnership between the member states of the Eurasian Economic Union, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. According to the author of the article, partnership should be formed on the basis of a flexible system of legal norms, joint projects and institutions that take into account diversity of the participants’ interests and purely volunteer nature of cooperation. Options for integrating into the partnership can be of different speeds and different levels, providing each participant the freedom to choose a package of commitments.

A lot has been written about the United Nations International Monetary and Financial Conference in Bretton Woods. Let us dwell on a less well-known story. The author describes the events connected with the Soviet delegation’s participation in this conference, and about the circumstances of taking a decision on the USSR’s participation (or rather, non-participation) in the work of the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development created at the conference.